J.biosoc.

Sci, (2006) 38, 413–418,  2005 Cambridge University Press

doi:10.1017/S002193200502674X First published online 5 May 2005

CHILDREN OF HOMOSEXUALS AND

TRANSSEXUALS MORE APT TO BE
HOMOSEXUAL

PAUL CAMERON

Family Research Institute, Colorado Springs, CO, USA

Summary. Do the sexual inclinations of parents influence those of their

children? Of 77 adult children of homosexual parents who volunteered for
three different investigations, at least 23 (30%) were currently homosexual:
twelve (55%) of 22 daughters and three (21%) of fourteen sons of lesbians;
five (29%) of seventeen daughters and three (17%) of eighteen sons of gays;
none of six sons with both a gay and a lesbian parent. At least 25 (32%) were
currently heterosexual. Of the ten with transsexual parents, one of nine
daughters was currently lesbian, one was currently heterosexual, and one was
transsexual. The son’s sexual preference was not reported. These findings
suggest that parents’ sexual inclinations influence their children’s.

Introduction
‘Common sense’ holds that homosexuality is ‘contagious’ (Levitt & Klassen, 1974).
Thus Rees & Ushill (1956) state ‘it is vain to blind oneself to the fact that the problem
of male homosexuality is in essence the problem of the corruption of youth by itself
and by its elders. It is the problem of the creation by means of such corruption of
new addicts ready to corrupt a still further generation of young men and boys in the
future’ (p. 29). It is also commonly believed that ‘children follow in their parents’
footsteps’. So as the religious are believed to be more apt to sire religious children or
smokers smoking children, homosexual or gender-disturbed parents are expected to be
more apt to have homosexual or gender-disturbed children (Cameron, 1999).
In 1978, Green countered common opinion by reporting that the sexual identify
of nine older children of five transsexuals and four older children of two homosexuals
was not ‘dramatically affected: all have developed a typical sexual identity, including
heterosexual orientation’. Though warning that his sampling ‘was not systematic’ and
his findings ‘preliminary’, his 1978 research has been frequently cited as demonstrat-
ing that the sexual interests of parents have no or little influence on the sexual desires
of their children (Patterson & Redding, 1996). Indeed, many gay rights supporters –
such as the American Psychological Association and National Association of Social
Workers – regularly contend that homosexuality is no more prevalent among children
413
414 P. Cameron
with a homosexual parent than those without (Cameron & Cameron, 1997). If
homosexual desires are distributed essentially randomly throughout the population,
then not only would common sense be wrong, but those concerned about placing
foster or adoptive children with homosexuals could not argue that the children would
be more apt to emulate their parent(s) by engaging in homosexuality themselves.
Subsequent research has tended to focus on young children, so the effects of
parental homosexuality on adult children – the time of life when sexual activity is
more frequent – are largely unexplored. Controversy regarding whether homosexual
and transsexual parents are more apt to have children who follow in their parents’
footsteps continues. Some (Cameron & Cameron, 1996, 1997; Stacy & Biblarz, 2001)
believe the empirical literature supports common sense. Others (Patterson & Redding,
1996; Tasker & Golombok, 1997; Golombok, 2002; Perrin, 2002) contend that the
literature indicates there is no correlation, while James (2004) is among those who
believe the published findings are insufficient to draw a conclusion.
The number of adult children of homosexuals whose sexual preferences have been
assessed is modest, and even smaller numbers of adult children of transsexuals have
been studied. Three recent compilations of interviews with or essays by adult children
of homosexuals and transsexuals were examined to determine whether a correlation
between parental and children’s inclinations might exist.

Methods
To date, only one random sample that might pertain has been reported (Cameron &
Cameron, 1996). There is no obvious way to design a random sample of adult
children of homosexual parents. Such children are not enumerated by any census and
how they might be contacted is obscure. No obvious sampling strategy presents itself,
but a number of books touching upon gay parenting, all written from a celebratory
stance, have recently appeared. While unknown biases may have led to the
compilations they reported, taken together the number of adult children of homo-
sexuals in these compilations is larger than the number studied for any other account.
In the absence of a random sample, it seemed reasonable to at least examine the
material available. Therefore, all books about adult children who had homosexual or
transsexual parents that could be purchased on Amazon.com in April 2004 were
examined. Amazon.com was employed because its selection of ‘works that pertain to
the topic’ has no apparent bias regarding gay parenting, and those works that could
be purchased were in print, assuring that the material was relatively ‘fresh’ to the
issue. A tally of sexual preferences was made from the three that could be purchased:
Garner’s (2004) interviews with ‘over 50’, Gottlieb’s (2003) interviews with eleven, and
Howey & Samuels’ (2000) compilation of 20 essays by such children. All adult
children mentioned in these books – the adult child, as well as any adult siblings
detailed by him – were assembled. Garner’s father is gay and Howey’s father
transgendered, and they speak as advocates of their father’s choices, so any bias in
their samples and reporting would presumably be pro- rather than anti-gay rights.
Andersson et al. (2004) have noted that ‘some aspects of gay and lesbian life styles
seem to be of such a common nature that they appear regardless of the type of data
 Sexuality of children of homosexuals and transsexuals 415
Table 1. Sexual preferences of adult children of homosexuals

Lesbian mother Gay father Lesbian and gay parents

? Homo. Hetero. ? Homo. Hetero. ? Homo. Hetero.

Daughters
n=39 7 12 3 9 5 3
Sons
n=38 5 3 6 4 3 11 4 2

at hand’ (p. 18); that is, that a reasonably large sample of homosexuals, even if
obtained non-randomly, seems fairly representative of gays and lesbians in general. If
their belief is true, perhaps the sum of the accounts from the three books may bear
upon adult outcomes of homosexuals’ children. The sexual preferences of the children
were not the focus of these three works, so the preferences of almost half the children
could not be determined.

Results
A compilation of the 77 children of homosexuals is summarized in Table 1. Of 77
adult children in the three studies who had homosexual parents, 23 (30%) were
currently homosexual: twelve (55%) of 22 daughters and three (21%) of fourteen sons
of lesbians; five (29%) of seventeen daughters and three (17%) of eighteen sons of
gays. At least 25 (32%) were currently heterosexual: three (14%) daughters and six
(43%) sons of lesbians; three (18%) daughters and eleven (61%) sons of gays. Of the
ten with transsexual parents (nine born as men, one as a woman), one (whose mother
stayed with her surgically modified father) of nine daughters was currently lesbian,
one heterosexual, one transsexual (her father was apparently born a man; she was
living as a male sans surgery with another transsexual whose sex was not reported),
and seven daughters (one with a mother who underwent surgery) and the son (of a
father with surgery) whose sexual preferences were not reported on.

Discussion
Independence of homosexuality forms the backbone of arguments that the sexual
proclivities of parents have no influence on children’s development. If children’s
sexual proclivities are independent, then it is unreasonable to bar foster parenting or
adoption by homosexuals lest the fostered become homosexual as well (e.g.
Golombok, 2002, citing her own longitudinal study in support). But if they are
correlated, then parental sexual inclinations might be relevant to social policy. So the
motivation of homosexuals to appear to have ‘an average rate’ of heterosexual
children is strong – and sympathetic reporters may try to accommodate this. Thus,
Garner noted that because ‘of the pressure to demonstrate that gay parents produce
straight children, some LGBT [gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered] families who
416 P. Cameron
initially agree to appear in media mysteriously fade out of the spotlight if, as their
children mature, it appears that one of them might be queer. . One journalist told
me she was planning to profile a particular teenager with gay parents but doubted her
choice after he told her he was gay, too’ (p. 172). This motivation contributes towards
making a biased sample and possible underreporting of offspring who adopt
homosexual inclinations more likely. Thus, regarding the only subsample Garner
detailed: ‘Dad asked how many of the eleven people at the meeting were heterosexual.
Three, I told him. He inhaled a quick, audible breath and then whispered intensely
into the phone, as if spies might overhear: ‘What does that say about the statistics?!’
My dad’s reaction is a fairly common one. LGBT parents fear that evidence of queer
kids will not fare well under the scrutiny of anti-gay policy-makers, and although such
children exist, they should be acknowledged only within LGBT communities – and
even then, only in whispers’ (pp. 169–170). Another influence that might work
towards reduced representation of non-homosexual children is suggested by Howey
& Samuels (2000): ‘sadly . a number of our contributors are either estranged
from or angry with their gay parents’ (p. xx). Children who refused to contribute to
these three books would seem even more apt to be estranged or angry – and be
non-homosexual.
In Golombok’s longitudinal effort, parental pressures towards adopting a homo-
sexual proclivity were straightforward: when asked what they thought their mother’s
desires regarding their sexual preference were, nine (56%) of lesbians’ daughters and
one (14%) of their sons said that they believed their mother wanted them to become
homosexual. None of the children of (divorced) heterosexual mothers in the
comparison group made such a claim (Tasker & Golombok, 1997, p. 124). As well,
three (19%) lesbians’ daughters and two (29%) of their sons were uncertain about
what lifestyle their mother wanted them to follow vs two (22%) of the daughters and
four (40%) of the sons of heterosexuals. Finally, only four (25%) of the lesbians’
daughters and four (57%) of their sons said that they believed their mother wanted
them to become heterosexual vs seven (78%) of the daughters and six (60%) of the
sons of heterosexual mothers.
Knowing that a parent desires a particular outcome hardly assures that a child will
follow it: children often rebel or ‘learn from parental mistakes’. But most children
tend to accommodate parental desires, and adult children of homosexuals have sexual
proclivities that are plausibly influenced by parental influence. In addition to being the
recipients of parental pressure, these children often are immersed in the ‘gay culture’
with effects that could contribute to sexual preference. Thus, Ry, a daughter of a
lesbian, reported being ‘repulsed’ by heterosexuality because she was ‘so immersed in
gay culture and unfamiliar with what it is to have a healthy straight relationship’
(Garner, 2004, p. 215) and Jennifer, currently lesbian, reported ‘I spent way too many
years trying to prove to myself that I was straight. It made me stay in a bad
heterosexual relationship way too long’ (Garner, 2004, p. 184). A heterosexual son of
a lesbian rejected marriage out of ‘the feeling that I would betray my mom and Judy
if I were to get married’ (Garner, 2004, p. 217). Similarly, Greta, currently lesbian,
reported ‘I was always reading books with gay characters and listening to music by
gay artists. I knew the lingo before . even thinking about my own sexuality’
(Garner, 2004, p. 183). A more direct mechanism was reported by Paul, currently gay,
 Sexuality of children of homosexuals and transsexuals 417
whose father had sex with him starting when he was 6 years old and continuing until
he was 18 (Gottlieb, 2003, p. 99). Another effect of this immersion is suggested by a
number of these children accepting the task of being apologists for the gay lifestyle:
at least four of the five children that Garner detailed as having made media
appearances were homosexual, and each either dissembled or explicitly lied when
asked about his or her sexual desires (pp. 171–175).
As with Green’s, the dataset reviewed for this article, being made up of volunteers,
is of unknown representativeness. But the 77 children with at least one homosexual
parent were all aged 18 years or older and came from 75 families (Green’s
homosexuals had no children aged 18 or older). Likewise, the ten children with at
least one transsexual parent were aged 18 years or older and came from ten
families, while Green reported on two adult children of transsexuals from two
families. To the degree that larger numbers of older subjects assembled by different
investigators, applying different methodologies, and in different locations more closely
approximates ‘the underlying reality’, this three-book dataset would appear more
representative.
The extent of parental influence on sexual preferences cannot be confidently
estimated from this or previously reported datasets. As with all but one of the other
reports, the adult children were not randomly obtained, nor – since their parents
made known their homosexual preference at different ages of the children – did the
children experience the same ‘dose’ of homosexual or transsexual parental influence.
Most of the children were born into a man–woman family, then as one parent decided
otherwise, spent the rest of their lives having a homosexual or transsexual parent
(though not necessarily living full-time with that parent).
In what appears to be the only random sample broaching parental sexual interests
(Cameron & Cameron, 1996), seventeen adults (0·37% of 4640 urban respondents)
reported a homosexual parent: six said their sexual desires included homosexuality
(and if the two who said their desires were ‘mainly heterosexual’ – which includes a
component of being sexually attracted to the same sex – are included, then eight
(47%) had homosexual desires). Were both samples random (which is not the case),
the six (35%) of seventeen is not statistically significantly different from the 28 (55%)
of 51 (
2 =1·1; df=1; ns) whose sexual preferences were reported in the three books
examined, but is significantly (
2 =29·0; df=1; p<0·001) higher than the 41 (17%)
homosexual of 235 older children with at least one homosexual parent in the
comparative empirical literature through 1999 (Cameron, 1999). Until better samples
emerge, the 35–47% figure (from the random sample) of homosexuals’ children who
adopt homosexuality appears plausible.
All in all, the correlation between parental and children’s sexual inclinations is
similar enough to the influences that adult children of the religious report about
parental influence on their religious sensibilities or between smokers and smoking by
their children that positing additional biological mechanisms for it seem unnecessary.
And the mechanisms by which children reported arriving at homosexual interests are
plausible. At a time when notions of acquiring rather than ‘discovering’ one’s sexual
preferences have fallen into disfavour, these findings may be as startling as Green’s
in 1978. Instead of appearing to be independent of parental sexual interests and
activities, which Green’s write-up implied and those who cite him often claim to be
418 P. Cameron
the case (e.g. Patterson & Redding, 1996), a rather solid correlation appears to exist
between parental and their adult children’s sexual proclivities.
Transsexualism is rare and little is known about the effects of transsexualism upon
children (Chiland, 2003). The only child who is reported as transsexual in this dataset
had a transsexual father, which plausibly underscores parental influence on the
decision by his daughter to become a transsexual.

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